The present application claims priority of the Argentine patent application No. P00 01 00142, which was filed on Jan. 13, 2000, in the name of the same applicant.
The present invention relates to a transport device for horizontal, sloped and vertical movement, for carrying people or goods.
The present invention is particularly adequate for being used in large buildings (not only tall but also wide spread ones), and in small and large scale urbanization projects. The system of the present invention can interact with other systems. It may replace trains in flat ground, elevated monorails, cogwheel, rack railways and the well known elevator, covering all the ground transport means that run on rails. It may work either as an individual vehicle (in a building or in a group of buildings), or forming a convoy, by engaging individual units. It may act on steep slopes, vertical or horizontal guides or channels.
When transport interference appears within the city, the mobile device of the present invention may cover wide areas, connecting different geographical spots, without level or height limitations. In terms of xe2x80x98usexe2x80x99, it may offer a wide range of operations scales. This means: it can either connect transport terminals such as buses, airports, docks with smaller scale terminals on urbanized areas, towns or cities, or even apartment floors. Its route may start in an underground terminal, travel horizontally and switch from this circuit to a vertical one, or switch to an inclined one with different slopes, or rise above ground level.
The transport device may be considered autonomous due to all the above mentioned features, meaning by this that it does not depend nor rely on other transport means, being self-sufficient and self-reliable.
As an illustrative example: when an ordinary railway means needs to change from a ground level to another, it has to rely on complementary transport means, for example on a cog railway. In those cases, both interact with each other. They may also require further adjustments in their own drive and guide elements, such as, for e.g. widening curve radii.
The stopping action of the vehicle is gentle and smooth because it is carried out in several differentiated steps. In a first step the drive engine acts as a direct current electric generator adding mechanical load and wasting mechanical energy, thus obtaining decrease in speed; and, in a second step, the hydraulic disc-brake system takes care of movement till coming to complete stop.
Known vertical transport devices such as elevators use cables and engine rooms and have height limitations. Transportation devices for steep slopes also use cables or racks and their cabin does not keep a horizontal position while moving. The present invention replaces, by means of the use of an autonomous transport system, the different means of transport known today: the elevator (moving vertically), the cogwheel or rack railway train (for steep sloped tracks) and the different types of trains for relatively horizontal ground. The way the present invention solves vertical displacement may look similar to the elevator. However this is not so, because it does not depend on cables nor does it use engine rooms, and has therefore no height limitations. The way the present invention climbs steep slopes may look similar to the cogwheel railway or to the rack railway on the mountain. Furthermore its movement on horizontal ground could be compared to an ordinary train. However, one of the advantages of the present invention related to the cogwheel railway is that its cabin is always leveled, no matter how steep the slope may be. Regarding an ordinary train, the present invention allows to perform several movements in various directions, in such a way an ordinary train would lose balance and turn over. Since the device of the present invention travels on rubber wheels forming a long traction set, it will run smoothly even when changing the direction or traveling on a curve, thanks to the perfect adapting performance given by the articulation of the sub chassis of each set of wheels to the wheel guides.
U.S. Pat. No. 631,988 (W. Feldmann), describes an articulated suspension appliance for elevated railways. It describes a transport device, similar to a funicular passenger ropeway but showing an improved linkage that avoids swaying. It moves horizontally and in slopes of up to 45xc2x0 and its cabins move all together. The device of the U.S. patent does not anticipate the technique of the present invention because the former may not move in vertical, horizontal or sloped directions and each of the cabins forming it is not independent of the other. Therefore, the device of the U.S. patent does not allow for transport capacity, speed and versatility as the one of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,495,545 (Z. Radovic) describes a closed, non autonomous transport system, based on a monorail which has a chain or cable traction means, the latter moving a set of containers equally separated one from the other. However, the mentioned patent does not overlap with the present invention because the vehicles described in the U.S. patent have no individual mechanical driving means and therefore may not act as autonomous transport vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,962 (W. Avery) describes a closed monorail which is moved by a cable, and is formed by hanging vehicles which may not move in vertical motion, they may not move by themselves individually and may not move resting on their own rail or with their rail at one side. The document describes a movable access platform and the overall function is that of a funicular passenger ropeway since the vehicles are equally separated one from the other and move as a whole. Therefore these may not be used as a passenger urban train
U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,103 (G. Neaver) reveals a convertible rail-highway vehicle, which is comprised by a relatively big monorail type vehicle, which may only travel horizontally or on slight slopes but by no means vertically. The document describes a hybrid type of rolling means. When the vehicle is standing still and when it moves slowly, it rolls on automobile type wheels. When the vehicle reaches and exceeds a speed of 100 mph, it retrieves the mentioned wheels and rolls on railway type wheels. The vehicle achieves lateral equilibrium thanks to the rotating momentum of the raised wheels which act as gyroscopes, rotating at 5000 rpm. The vehicle is also balanced thanks to roof elements that are activated by a pendulum and hydraulic means. The mentioned device is capable of running horizontally or on slight slopes but is not capable of running in vertical tracks, just as a conventional train or a bus when running under 100 mph. Although a pendulum is mentioned, the latter is only used for keeping lateral balance but does not allow to keep the vehicle""s horizontal overall position. The driving mechanism of the mentioned patent is different from the present invention since it is not based on a combination of a pair of slipping-free guides with slipping-free wheels and does not guarantee equilibrium under all load conditions because its wheels do not increase pressure against the rail guides when the slope gets steeper, and therefore does not assure free of slippage rolling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,734 (C. Horn) describes a closed loop system that allows a passenger car unit to be separately parked and picked up when fully occupied. However, the units may not travel vertically and therefore may not link several floors of a building or the latter with another premises. The units do not move about on guides or channels since they hang from a cable and do not form convoys that may replace a train.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,537 (H. Graef) discloses an indoors guided transportation system which rolls on two convex guides by means of 2 pairs of opposing wheels which are engaged to the former by the force of a set of compression springs. This teaches away from what is claimed in the present invention which does not use the springs for guaranteeing the adherence of the wheels to the guides and only uses them for keeping the wheels in place when these are not pressed by the force resulting from the cabin""s combined weight. The anti-slippage friction of the wheels in the present invention is created by the momentum of the unit acting as a lever against the guides when riding on sloped or vertical portions of the runway but does not rely on the compression springs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,970 (H. Glastra) describes an indoors guided transportation system which rolls on two cylindrical guides, one of which comprises a set of track elements formed by spaced pins extending towards the other and disposed in bends of the guide to ensure the vehicle""s positive drive. The vehicle rolls on train type wheels and comprises a motor-driven driving wheel which contacts by friction one of the track elements and includes apertures formed in the outer circumference of the driving wheel which cooperate with the pins. Unlike the present invention, the vehicle bases its ability to run on horizontal, sloped or vertical tracks thanks to the engagement obtained by the pressure of a set of springs that push the wheels against the guides. Some of the springs keep a set of concave wheels pressed against convex guides and other springs keep a motor driven concave wheel against the convex guide. The invention of the U.S. patent is directed to small load transport and may not be applied to public transport vehicles because it is designed for handling small weights and is not capable of carrying people, particularly in vertical and sloped tracks, because the springs cannot guarantee that the friction between the wheels and the rails will be big enough to avoid slippage. Furthermore, the pins described in the U.S. patent would immediately wear out or even brake under heavy load acceleration or sudden stop.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,778 (F. Wilson) describes a transportation system which is based on a monorail wherein the transportation units have no own motor drive and may not work on vertical guides. The units are linked together in a large conveyor chain. The units hang from a beam and are urged against it by two automobile type wheels which roll over a metallic strip under each unit. The U.S. patent does not explain how passengers are able to step off the units or if all the chain stops in order to do this. Therefore the mentioned patent lacks of the basic features for solving public transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,186 (J. K. Kunczynski) reveals a driver assembly for an automatic rail-based transportation system, based on a closed circuit monorail, with the passenger cars equally separated among each other and moved as a whole by friction on automobile type wheels. The documents solves sloped movement by means of a gear. The vehicles are laterally engaged and keep their lateral balance thanks to a lateral rail. However, the units are not autonomous since all the chain is driven by one or more central engines and may only be used in low speed applications such as shoppings, airports, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,186 (A. Lisa) discloses a funicular with rails and a hanging car cabin which rolls on the rail driven by a cable. It may run on horizontal and sloped tracks and keeps the cabin horizontal, within a small angle range, thanks to a hydraulic leveling system. However the system seems to be unable to run on vertical tracks, it may not handle autonomous car cabins and, unlike the present invention, is driven by cables.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,508 (S. M. Kavieff) describes a conveyor system with cantilever carriers, designed for hauling automobiles in a factory production chain. The system is based on a monorail and does not mention autonomous conveyor units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,778 (R. A. Romine) describes an automated electric transportation system which includes a transport automobile or travel xe2x80x9cvanxe2x80x9d with two upper support means, normal car wheels and train wheels mounted in inner positions related to the former ones. The mentioned elements may allow the xe2x80x9cvanxe2x80x9d to run on normal roads, on railways, or to be hauled on hanging systems. The vehicle works on electricity and includes recharging means. However, the mentioned patent does not describe a multiple autonomous car system that may run on horizontal, sloped or vertical guides and replace conventional public transportation.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide an autonomous transport system which is capable of overcoming the transport handicaps shown in prior art devices, being able to run on horizontal, highly sloped and vertical tracks with no speed degrading and capable of keeping a plurality of vehicle units in autonomous movement and individual full stop, with guaranteed non-slipping action on any of the mentioned tracks.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a vehicle that is able to run on horizontal, highly sloped or vertical without risk of slipping and with absolute security for the people and goods transported in it.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transportation method for people and goods, carried out by the autonomous transport system of the present invention, and particularly for solving densely populated city transportation.
To achieve the foregoing objects and in accordance with a purpose of the present invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the system and transport method will now be fully described.